


Chasing the Wind

by BettyHT



Series: Janes [2]
Category: Bonanza
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2018-10-12
Packaged: 2019-07-29 23:02:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16274171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BettyHT/pseuds/BettyHT
Summary: A surprise visitor from Adam’s recent past in Boston shakes things up in Virginia City and Adam has some choices to make.  Second story in a series, it follows Bounty Hunter and is followed by Weep For Me, and Rejoice With Me.





	Chasing the Wind

Chasing the Wind

Chapter 1

It was a long ride back from Barrow especially because Adam wasn't fully recovered. That first day, Joe made an excuse to camp early assuming that Adam knew it was a cover for his desire to ease his brother's discomfort. That Adam accepted the suggestion without comment was all the evidence Joe needed to know that he was correct in his evaluation of Adam's condition. He tried to hide his weariness, but the slight slouch and the lack of attention at times were tells. Joe had rather enjoyed this feeling of being on an equal par with his oldest brother. They had worked together more as equals than they had at any time in the past. That first night in camp though showed Joe that there were still facets of Adam that he didn't understand at all.

"Hey, Adam, I don't understand why you weren't interested in Jane at all. I mean, she was pretty, and she took such good care of you. She was as nice to you as any woman could be, and she's smart and clever. I mean, she seems like the kind of woman you would be interested in, but you pushed her toward me and then toward Brown. Why was that?"

"She was nice enough, but there was no spark there."

"You don't seem to find a spark with any woman here since you got back. You haven't seen any woman except to dance with a few at a social or at a party." Adam didn't respond, and Joe kept thinking about it. "Hey, didn't you write once about a woman named Jane in Boston when you were out there. We thought you were getting serious about her, and then you never said anything more about her and a couple of months later you were home."

"That's my private life and no concern of yours." There was a coldness to what Adam said and a hard edge to his voice when he said it. Joe could have been a stranger for lack of concern in Adam's response.

"I was only trying to make conversation and show some interest in things you had an interest in. You don't have to bite my head off or act like I did something wrong."

Torn between anger and embarrassment, Adam mumbled an apology for his words and stalked off into the darkness with a claim that he had business he needed to do. Joe knew that wasn't true having seen him take care of things only a short time earlier. He guessed correctly that Adam needed time to compose himself and to come to terms with whatever was bothering him although he couldn't know that it was Adam's inability to come to terms with what was bothering him that had brought him home again. He had pushed the issues deep inside hoping not to have to face them ever again, but the pain was there whenever he was reminded of them. When Adam returned to camp, he was businesslike in getting done what needed to be done. There was no further reference to that previous conversation, and Joe steered clear of any mention of Jane in Barrow or of the Jane in Boston even if his curiosity was highly aroused by his brother's reaction. In the days that followed, Joe stuck to that limitation on their conversations, but he had already decided to talk to Hoss about it when they got back home because if Adam had ever discussed this with anyone, it would have been with Hoss. Adam had been through a very trying time in Barrow, and Joe had no desire to make things uncomfortable for him. In fact, he wanted to make things as good as they could be so he was as cheerful as Adam was dour after their slight altercation. It worked. Soon they were back to their previous mellow manner with each other making the trip proceed pleasantly.

When Adam and Joe returned to the Ponderosa, both of them could see the relief in their father's eyes. He had been worried to be separated from them with Barrow still alive and a threat to them, and then having heard that they had faced and defeated Barrow, he must have worried that they were hurt but had not told him. He was clearly overjoyed to find that both of them were unhurt and that Adam was recovering well from his previous injury. When he heard about Brown and Jane he was delighted perhaps because it meant that all connections to the whole event would be removed from their lives, but Joe noted the slight reaction from Adam at the mention of Jane's name. He hadn't noted that in Barrow, but Adam had been in such a sorry state with his wound, the beating he had taken, the fever, and coma, that it would have been nearly impossible to note such a minor reaction separately from the grimaces and other reactions he had to pain and discomfort in general. Joe noted the momentary haunted look that Adam got when their father proposed a toast to the heroic Jane and all that she had done for Adam even with the behavior that had shocked him but pulled Adam from his coma. In the stable later as Joe and Hoss did the evening chores, Hoss questioned Joe about the earlier interactions.

"Joe, I saw you watching Adam a lot especially when he wasn't paying attention to you watching. Something happen out there on the trail I ought to know about? He's really all right, ain't he?"

"Well, he is and he isn't. I mean, he's fine as far as what happened back in Barrow. He's healing up like new, but there's something going on in his head that I can't figure out. I was wondering if he talked to you about it. Hoss, whenever you say Jane, he gets a funny look."

"You mean like he's embarrassed about what she done to wake him up back there in Barrow? It was a right clever thing she done too. He shouldn't feel bad about that. It mighta saved his life."

"No, it's not that. It's saying the name Jane like that Jane he knew in Boston. You know, the one he wrote about and then a few months later, he's home and he won't talk about why he's home only that he didn't find what he was looking for. He always keeps things close to the vest so when he mentioned her name in his letter, I figured they were as good as getting married. Next thing he's home and never mentions her ever. Don't you find that odd?"

"You know, now that you say it all like that, it does. He ain't never talked to me about his time in Boston. I thought he would, but it's like he closed the door and locked it. He ain't going back there even for the memories."

"It's more like he dug a grave and buried all of it. Hoss, I think something bad happened, and he didn't tell us. It's haunting him, and I think it's why he doesn't like women any more."

"Oh, c'mon now, Adam still likes women. He dances with a passel of women at every dance we go to and every party we have."

"Does he ever walk with any one of them out into the moonlight?"

"Well no, but he was telling me in Barrow that he's got his eye on some gal in Virginia City and he was gonna do something about that when he got back."

"Hmm, that would be the test of what I'm thinking. Hoss, I could be all wrong, but I think this Jane in Boston broke his heart somehow and he can't get over it. If he does start showing some interest in this woman in town, whoever she is, then I'm wrong, but if it's the same old thing, then you have to admit that maybe I'm right on this."

"We've got a trip to town coming up on Saturday. We're getting supplies but Pa said we oughta all spend the day, and then there's a big social at night. I think you'll see that Adam is looking around plenty at the eligible ladies."

The two left the conversation end there, and in the morning, Ben asked at breakfast if Joe and Adam thought it would be a good idea to have a small drive to replace the larger one they couldn't have because of spending so much time away because of Barrow. He and Hoss had worked out a possible route and only needed to hammer out a few more details if the other two thought it was a good idea.

"Sounds good to me. By the time we get them rounded up and ready to go, I'll be ready too. Who will be the trail boss?"

There were a few nervous looks exchanged then by Hoss, Ben and Joe before Ben spoke.

"Adam, I thought you could stay here and take care of the ranch business while I went with Hoss and Joe. You need to fully recover before you head out on a cattle drive."

"Pa, I rode back here from Barrow. Granted, Joe took it easy on me with the pace, but a cattle drive doesn't exactly move at a fast pace either. I'll be fine. Now, who will boss the drive?"

Joe looked tense and Hoss looked worried. Ben decided that the only way to do this was to say it straight out and see what happened. "You've been gone a long time, and even though this is a small drive, it's the first since you've been back. Our winter losses were too great to have a spring drive. Joe has been bossing the drives so he'll do this one."'

There was a pause while Adam thought about that. He nodded. "I guess I expected that Hoss would have bossed the drives, but I guess Joe is cut out more for the boss job. That makes sense. Hoss, what do you do?"

"I've been the ramrod, but ifn you'd like that job like you did when you did drives when you was here and Pa was trail boss, I'd be mighty happy to give it up. It ain't never anything I've liked to do."

"If you would help me with that job, I'd be happy to do it. I don't know the men as well as you do and I don't know the route like you do either after being gone for years. Working together would make more sense, don't you think?"

"I like that, Adam. We make a good team."

With the apparent conflicts settled for the time being at least, the family discussed their plans for the following week with most of the attention by Hoss and Joe on the trip to town. On Saturday, they were excited to be together for that and dressed well for the day knowing that at night, there would be a dance. Adam wore his more ordinary clothes surprising all of them especially his father.

"Did you remember that there's a dance tonight?"

"I did. I don't plan on attending it."

Surprised and almost shocked by that answer, Ben looked to Hoss and Joe who shrugged. Turning back to Adam, Ben asked in a softer tone if there was a specific reason.

"Nothing specific, no, I have no interest. That's all. I thought I would ride home and have some quiet time tonight. There won't be any of that once the drive starts on Monday."

"Well, you're thirty-nine years old so I guess you know what you want. If you change your mind, perhaps you would like to bring a change of clothing with you."

"I won't change my mind."

Once Adam rode out of town that night, Hoss and Joe discussed their theory with their father. They discovered that he too had concerns about Adam's behavior and demeanor since he had arrived home and the change in his attitude toward his future.

"Adam, wasn't happy or fulfilled doing ranch work, and I understood that even if the two of you didn't. He needed more of a challenge in his life. More than anything, he wanted to be able to create things, to use his mind too. He wanted to be able to dream and to follow those dreams, but now that's all different. There are no dreams. Not only does he seem willing to work on the ranch, he put up no fuss to taking orders from Joe on the drive. He chafed under my orders in the past yet he will accept his youngest brother as trail boss without complaint. Didn't that surprise you?" Seeing Joe about to offer some objections, Ben was quick to explain. "I know it's logical and sensible, but your oldest brother likes to be in charge. Don't you remember always complaining about him being bossy. Well, it comes to him naturally. He spent years being in charge of you two. I gave him that job and it was a difficult one for him to give up after all those years of feeling responsible. Now it seems, that sense of responsibility is gone. He's a different man in so many respects. I'd like to meet this Jane and find out what happened to my son in Boston to send this changed man home in his place."

"He's still a lot like the old Adam, Pa, but it's like some of the spark in him done up and got put out especially when it come to women. Now that gal in Barrow shoulda been the type to get his blood a boiling seeing as what she done for him and all and how smart she was, but he weren't interested at all. Fact is, he pushed her away, first toward Joe, and then toward Brown. For a bit, I thought she was more interested in him, but a woman ain't gonna stay interested long in a man turns his back on her like that."

"Yes, that's what I mean, Hoss. In ways like that, he shows he isn't the same any more. Something happened to make him change his what he values, what he thinks is important. I don't know though if he's changed how he thinks about things and what he wants to do, or if he's here hiding away from what hurt him and trying to make sense of it. He won't ever talk about his life in Boston."

"Pa, Hoss and I noticed that too. You can't bring up stuff, even things he wrote in his letters, without him changing the subject."

"I'm going to depend on you two to watch over him on the drive. What happened in Barrow seems to have put him even more on edge than he was." With that, Ben led his younger sons into the dance hoping that one of them would finally find a gal to his liking enough to marry although his thoughts strayed to his oldest all night.

As the three had walked in, a tall man dressed in black rode out from an alleyway down the street. He had seen his father and two brothers deep in conversation as soon as he rode away. Circling around, he had come to the alley to see them talk for quite a while. He guessed he was the subject of their discussion. Since Barrow, he knew that he had let too much of his inner torment out. His imperfect façade had been barely sufficient until then for he understood that the questions about Boston, about his lack of interest in dating anyone, and about his plans for the future were efforts to discover why he had returned home and why he was different than when he left. He knew then that he needed to recommit himself to a much better job of playing the role of Adam Cartwright or at least the Adam who had left years before and not the one who came home with a broken heart and his faith and trust in others shattered.

Chapter 2

The drive went very well with Adam grousing about Joe being in charge and acting the role with which his brothers were more familiar. He did his job efficiently, impressed the men with his skills, and joked in camp singing songs too when there was the opportunity for that. Hoss and Joe gleefully told their father all about it on their return even about the small scuffle that Joe and Adam had because of a disagreement as to the route the herd should take through an area that was low on water. Although Ben wasn't happy to learn about the scuffle, he was pleased to see a more normal reaction from his son. To him, the report from Hoss and Joe meant that perhaps things were improving. At the dining table, Adam even talked a little about his job in Boston as if it was the most natural thing to do. As dinner was nearly done, there was a knock on the door. Joe and Hoss were already finished with the dessert that Hop Sing had served and headed to the checkers board so they went to see who had arrived at so late an hour. Hoss stepped back inside to tell Adam who had arrived. Hoss was smiling, but Adam wasn't when he heard who had arrived.

"It's your friend from Boston. That Jane gal you wrote to us about once. She's here. She's got her luggage so I'm guessin' she expects to stay on here at least tonight."

Noting how Adam's expression froze into neutrality, Ben followed his oldest son outside to meet this mystery woman from Boston who seemed to perhaps be the key to the mystery of his son's transformation. Ben wasn't surprised to find an attractive young woman with dark hair, green eyes, and a ready smile. It was the bold demeanor too that he thought Adam would have chosen in a woman. She looked Ben in the eye when he offered his hand, smiled, and greeted him with clear interest in meeting Adam's father. She looked all around obviously curious about Adam's home and perhaps about everything having to do with Adam. Ben got the distinct impression that Jane was far more than a friend. However Adam wasn't particularly friendly in greeting her.

"Hello, Jane. This is a surprise. Where do you plan to stay?"

"I was hoping to stay here. If you object, I could go back to town tonight."

Quickly intervening, Ben said it was much too late to have her drive back to town. "You are most welcome to stay here tonight. Adam has been remodeling one of the bedrooms upstairs but the guest bedroom downstairs is available for your use. Joe, why don't you take her things inside? Hoss, can you take care of her carriage? Please, Jane, come inside." Ben offered his arm and escorted Jane inside with Adam walking stiffly behind them.

When Hoss and Joe joined them, Jane regaled them with tales of her trip west and the people with whom she had traveled and the sights she had seen. She was gifted as a storyteller which was another trait that the family knew Adam would appreciate. If she could sing and liked Shakespeare, they guessed she would be perfect. It was a mystery why there was such a frigid atmosphere then between the two of them. Sensing that Adam and Jane needed to talk, Ben excused himself to retire early and with his eyes did his best to get Hoss and Joe to do the same. It took a moment but they both caught on leaving Adam and Jane in the great room by the fireplace with Adam in the blue chair and Jane on the settee next to him.

"Jane, what are you doing here? Why now? Why come all this way? Surely you don't hate me so much that you've come to torture me."

"Adam, I don't hate you. I love you. I made a mistake, a very big mistake. In Boston, I thought I could pressure you into doing what I wanted."

"You mean what your father wanted."

"Well, yes, what my father wanted, but I wanted that too. I wanted the big house, and the influence, and everyone in the city looking up to me and wishing they were me. I wanted to be proud of my husband."

"No you wanted to be proud of a wealthy husband because he had more money than anyone else, but you didn't care how he got it. Jane, there is no possible way for me to have lived that way. I thought you knew that about me, but obviously you didn't or thought you could change me or mold me into something that you wanted."

"You see, that's what I understand now. It's you I wanted all along and didn't know. You must feel the same way. Isn't that why you never filed the divorce papers? You've had nearly a year and nothing has been filed."

"If you wanted the divorce, you could have filed them. You have grounds. I deserted you so you don't have to wait for me to file papers any more. You can file them yourself."

Turning away from Adam, Jane stood and stared into an empty room. She said nothing. Adam waited knowing how dramatic she liked to be but when she was still silent after a couple of minutes, he stood and stepped closer to her reaching out to turn her toward him. She resisted his efforts to turn her until he used both arms and pulled her around to face him. He was shocked to find her crying. She closed her eyes and tried to act as if she wasn't, but the tear stained cheeks gave her away. Taking his handkerchief from his pocket, Adam gently wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"If I didn't know what an accomplished actress you were, I might think those were real." Turning her head from him, Jane grimaced and tried to pull away from his grasp. Adam wasn't as sure of himself then wondering if she was actually crying. "I'm sorry. After what happened between us, I guess I'm overly suspicious."

"You were always suspicious. You questioned everything. You were moody and angry often, and it was hard to please you."

"It sounds as if nothing has changed. So why are you here?"

Softly but with intensity, Jane said only a few simple words that shook Adam immensely. "Because I have a proposition for you." Immediately, Adam stiffened as he worried about what that could mean. "Spend the night with me, one night, and then tell me you never want to be with me again. If you can do that, then I'll go back to Boston and file the papers and say you deserted me and that there is no hope that we can be reconciled."

"Jane, do you think a romp in bed is going to make me go back to Boston?"

"Maybe not, but I need to know if it is enough to make you come back to me. I need to know if we have a future because since you left, I feel as if my life is in limbo. I can't even think about another man because I compare any man I see to you. I know we argued and had difficulties, but we had great times together too even if our time together was so short. We're passionate people regardless of what others may think. Some believe we each have a heart of ice, but not one of them knows we have hearts that burn hotter than any others and we need that iron will to hold ourselves in check. You were the only man I ever met who could match me, who could challenge me, who ever had a chance to tame me. There were times with you that I felt a peace and calm I never knew before. I want that again if I can find it. If you can find it within yourself to take a chance on us for one night to see if it's still there, then I had to try, I had to know."

"Even if we did find that passion again, a relationship for the two of us would be difficult. We don't see the world the same way."

"We could fight that out the way we fight about everything else."

"I don't want to fight with you."

"What do you want to do?"

For so many months, Adam had tried to forget her, but her images had invaded his dreams and memories of her came unbidden to his thoughts during each day. Little things reminded him of her, and the time in Barrow staying with Jane especially when that Jane had used her body to coax him from his coma had made him think for a moment that his wife had returned to him. More than anything that had shaken his core and made him question his decision to abandon her. Now she was here, and all that effort to forget her was for naught. Her scent reminded him of that first time they had met on the train from New York to Boston sitting beside each other in uncomfortable silence until he had dared to address her only to get a stinging retort for his audacity. He had laughed and it had broken through her reserve. He remembered the first time she had yielded to his kiss and opened herself to his embrace. Most of all at that moment, he remembered their wedding and the first night they had lain together. Now she was offering another such night, and his mind argued against it, but his heart and soul begged him to agree to her proposal.

As Jane watched him, she saw the telltale signs that his resolve was weakening. She pressed her advantage by reaching out a hand and touching his chest. She wasn't too bold or too suggestive. She knew the touch would be enough if he had been suffering the same kind of loneliness she had suffered. She felt as much as heard the small intake of breath when her hand came in contact with him for surely he felt the warmth of her hand through the fine fabric of his shirt. He raised his hand and she held her breath as she waited to see if he would sweep her hand away from him or hold it to him. He placed his hand over hers.

"There's a huge gulf between us, and your father is a storm bearing down on us as well. Does he know you've come here?"

At that moment, Jane had to call upon her acting talents. "He didn't want me to come." She told part of the truth because she wasn't sure any more what the truth was or how much of the truth Adam would accept. In Boston, she had been reasonably sure. On the way west, she had many doubts assail her as she thought about things because she had so much time to think. Then when she arrived in Virginia City, met a few of Adam's friends and heard them talk about him, and took the ride to the ranch, her resolve was already faltering. When she met his brothers and then saw him walk out of that house, her insides had been in turmoil and nothing since had helped her settle them down. She didn't know what she was doing any longer except that she was driven now to be with him. More than anything else, she wanted him to hold her, to kiss her, and to make love with her. Somehow, she had a crazy idea that things would work out if only that would happen even if that was her father's plan to cause an entirely different result eventually. In her mind, she knew how ridiculous her idea was and how her father would laugh if only he knew how she was thinking, but her heart and soul wanted to be with Adam for this night no matter what she thought of herself in the morning.

"I have seen all the things that are done under the sun and all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. What is crooked cannot be straightened, and what is lacking cannot be counted."

"You think this is foolish. You want to be the wise man and do the right thing. But I know that verse too. And I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and it was the same as madness and folly, for I learned that it, too, is a chasing after the wind. We can quote scripture and philosophers and pursue logic and none of it is likely to help us here."

"Actually, I believe I was quoting scripture, and you were paraphrasing it."

"And some things never change."

"I can quote scripture on that too."

"I don't need to hear any more of Ecclesiastes tonight."

"Yes, I think you've made it clear what you want tonight." Adam's voice had gotten lower and he moved closer to Jane touching her cheek and tilting her head back. "What will you do if I go to bed with you and have my way with you, and it makes no difference in what I want to do?"

"I'm afraid that I'll have to live with the torment, but I'll feel that part of me has died and will never live again."

Leaning down, Adam pressed his lips against Jane's as her arms came up to wrap around his waist. He touched her cheek gently cupping her face and tilting it back to kiss her more deeply and passionately wrapping his other arm around her and pulling her close to him. They kissed like that for several minutes losing themselves in that moment and letting all the rest drift away. Bending slightly, Adam slid his arm behind her knees and picked her up in his arms carrying her to the guest room. She wrapped her arms around him holding him close, inhaling his scent, and reveling in the warmth of having him so close.

Chapter 3

Undressing his wife had been one of Adam's favorite activities in his short marriage. He much preferred it to finding her already in a gown or undressed for bed. So it was exactly the way he enjoyed lovemaking to begin by unbuttoning her dress and slipping his hands inside and pushing the dress from her shoulders helping it slide to the floor. His hands touched her bare flesh under her chemise then as he told her to raise her arms and he removed that too. Item by item, her clothing was removed with soft touches and caresses as he kissed her lips and neck and shoulders until she was resting on the bed naked. Adam removed his clothing quickly and joined her there pressing his body lengthwise along hers wrapping his arms around her as he kissed her. She kissed him as passionately and their lovemaking was fiery and fast after having been apart for so long with both dreaming of the other during that time. Resting in each other's arms afterwards, neither said anything but both softly touched the other and began kissing and becoming more intimate in the caressing until they made love a second time savoring the sensations and doing more to please the other and taking pleasure from that as much as from the physical release. Emotionally and physically exhausted then, both fell asleep until Jane was awakened by the most wonderful sensations as the first light of dawn had begun to brighten the room. Adam was lying behind her spoon fashion by then and was moving his hand in a most exquisite way to wake her. Languorously, they made love again taking their time moving as slowly with each other as they had furiously rolled together the first time. When they finished, they kissed and held each other close.

"Now what, Adam?"

"I'm not sure. This is wonderful. This has always been wonderful. We never have had a problem in bed and it was a great way to make up after our disagreements, but what's wrong may be too great to resolve this way."

"But every morning could be this way."

"It could be but at what price?"

"There are times when I wish I had never met you. I was so confident that I had life by the leash and that I was in control of where I was going. Not many women ever have that feeling."

"It wasn't real though."

"No, it wasn't. My father was indulging me and was ready to marry me off for business advantage as soon as he could make the best deal. Then you came along and ruined his whole plan."

"I didn't know I was ruining his plan."

"To be fair, neither did I until you asked me to marry you. Then he made me an offer I could not refuse. I could marry you, but I had to get you to work with him. Somehow, I should have known what he meant by that."

"That he was planning a colossal fraud and that he wanted me to be the one who would take the fall for it and go to prison freeing you of me at the same time as providing him with an even greater fortune?"

"It sounds so cold when you say it that way, and did he know it was a fraud?"

"Jane, it was cold. It was as ruthless and cold as a man could be. He had to know. Nothing added up from the beginning. If I had not suspected my new partners of collusion and gone to the authorities immediately, I would be in prison in Massachusetts right now. Instead, I lost just about everything and had to fear for my life. Then you wouldn't come with me. You took your father's side that he would have somehow rescued me from that plot. You know better now, I assume?"

"I do, I guess."

Pushing away from Jane and sitting up in the bed, Adam looked down at her. "I can't believe you! I told you that the only way we could ever be together was for you to trust me. Now you tell me that you're not sure that your father was plotting against me?"

"Adam, he's my father. I have to trust him too. It doesn't have to mean that there can't be trust between us, love between us."

Sliding from the bed, Adam began to dress. "I said he was a liar and a fraud. He's a crook and a bully. You cannot trust us both. You need to make a choice. Until you do, there is no us. There can't be. You can freshen up and dress. Breakfast will be on the table soon. I'll ride to town with you after breakfast and see to some accommodation for you until you want to leave."

"Adam, what about the divorce?"

Pausing at the door before opening it and without looking back, Adam spoke very softly. "That's your decision. You still have the same grounds in Massachusetts. I did desert you, and my reputation there is sullied enough that any court will likely grant you that divorce as soon as you ask for it." Adam pulled open the door and stepped out pulling it closed behind him.

Whispering at the closed door, Jane's eyes brimmed with tears. "I don't want a divorce. I want you. I love you, you damned impossible man."

Outside the bedroom, Adam met the angry glare of his father who sat at the dining room table and the slightly bemused expression of Hoss who waited for him to address his father. There wasn't much for Adam to say except the truth, but that was likely to stir up a whole hornets' nest of questions that he didn't want to answer so he said nothing about being married to Jane.

"I'll get the carriage ready, and I'll ride to town with her after breakfast."

Joe, who had been coming down the stairs when Adam exited the guest room, arrived at the table as Adam left the house. "Well, that answers one question. He's still interested in women."

"Joseph!"

Hop Sing waited to serve breakfast, but Ben told him to bring it out when it was clear that Adam wasn't returning and that Jane wasn't coming out. After breakfast, Adam came back in the house and without saying anything, he entered the guest bedroom after knocking only once. A short time later, he carried Jane's valises and escorted her out of the house to the carriage. Not knowing the circumstances, Ben avoided the two of them and counseled Joe and Hoss to do the same. He did expect Adam to give a full accounting later, but at that moment, he was too angry with his oldest son to say much of anything to him.

On the way to town and only a few miles from the ranch house, Adam noted that the carriage was not following a straight path. He rode up beside the carriage and told Jane to pull up. She did but refused to look at him. He dismounted and climbed into the carriage beside her, reached over, and gently touched her chin to turn her face to him because he knew by then that she was crying.

"I am sorry."

"But being sorry doesn't help. Being sorry doesn't fix anything. It doesn't make anything better than it was before."

"Jane, I don't know what you want from me."

"I want a chance. After last night, I want a chance."

It was Adam's turn to look away as he stared down the road toward Virginia City. He took a deep breath and blew it out forcefully. "Then I need to ask you an important question. Did your father send you out here?" Turning back to Jane, he waited to see her response physically as well as to hear what she said. He knew that any future they had rested on what she said next and how honest she was.

Jane knew it too. This was a crossroads but it was one of those that once crossed could never be retraced. She was forever going to lose her relationship with her father or with Adam, but if she chose Adam, it was still in doubt. She could lose both of them by being honest. Adam saw the conflict within her by how she struggled to answer.

"I guess that's answer enough. You can't tell me the truth."

"I can, but you don't understand the price you're asking me to pay."

"Then tell me."

"Yes, my father sent me out here to reconcile with you. He wants me to be with you so he can exact a final revenge on you. He was going to wait until we were back together and then he was going to stage a kidnapping and demand an exorbitant amount of money from you. He meant to ruin you financially."

"And where would you be?"

"I would be traveling safely back to Boston."

"And I would be dead. Your father is even more vindictive than I thought."

"No, he only wanted to take your wealth away from you. He said you would mortgage the Ponderosa to get me back because you hate it when someone takes something from you that belongs to you and you would do whatever it took to get it back."

"Jane, I never treated you like I owned you."

"No, but I did think you would pay a fortune to save me from kidnappers."

"Yes, but who is it that acts like he owns you and can use you as a pawn?" Jane said nothing for she knew whom he meant. "Do you know the penalty for kidnapping?"

"Of course, but I wouldn't really be kidnapped."

"But I wouldn't know that, and if I delivered the money and didn't get you free from them, do you think I'd rest before I found you?" That sobered Jane because she had never thought about the aftermath other than she and her father getting revenge on Adam. "The men who got the money from me would know all of that. They would never let me live. Anyone who knows me would know that I wouldn't stop unless I was dead. Your father would know that. His revenge would be complete then."

"Adam, I can't believe that. I can't think of my father as a murderer."

Ignoring that comment for the moment, Adam had another question. "When did you decide not to follow through on the plan?"

"I started to get doubts about it as I traveled here by myself. Without my father constantly talking about how you humiliated me and betrayed me and betrayed him as well, it was easier to think about things. When I got to Virginia City and met your friend Roy Coffee and a couple of other people and heard them talk about you, I started be ashamed of thinking only of the bad things and began to think more of all your wonderful qualities. Meeting your family and being with you again, I knew that I had let the poison of my father's anger taint every thought about you that I had. Did you know that I was going to follow you when you left?" Adam was shocked by that information. "I guessed you would be surprised considering our last conversation, but I do love you and I knew how you were hurting. I wanted to be with you, but father sent the coachman away and had me get in his carriage and come to his house."

The two sat silently for a time until Jane touched Adam on the arm. "Now what?"

"I think we need time to think about things and time to talk about things."

"So you will give me a chance?"

"I'll get you a room in town. We'll see what happens. I won't make any promises. At this point, I don't know what I'm feeling or what to think. But yes, I'll give you a chance. I'll give us a chance. There are still some nearly insurmountable difficulties, but as you said, we're fighters. We don't back down from a challenge."

Leaning down, Adam kissed Jane lightly on the cheek. "I do love you. If love truly conquered all, then this would be easy. Now, let's head to town and get you that room. I'll be back to see you tomorrow evening if that's all right. Could we have an early dinner?"

"Yes, I would like that." Jane knew she would have a lot of time to worry and think before that time, but also knew that Adam needed the time. She planned to do a bit of praying as well. It couldn't hurt.

On the Ponderosa, Ben waited for Adam at lunch but was disappointed. Then Hoss and Joe arrived home for dinner and Adam wasn't with them. At the dining table, Ben gruffly told Hop Sing to serve the food as his oldest son apparently had forgotten all about the ranch and his manners as well. Hoss looked over at Joe who cringed and shifted his eyes to indicate that Hoss ought to do the talking. With a sigh, Hoss pursed his lips and nodded. Ben knew then that there was more he didn't know.

"Well, out with it. There's no point in holding back now."

"Now, you see, Pa, Adam was on the ranch working today. He wasn't exactly in a talking mood though. He skipped lunch, and he told us he wasn't hungry when we said we was heading in for dinner. Then he said something that stopped us in our tracks, but we didn't get no more from him. He said he would be back here to tell us all about his wife when he had sorted more of it out for himself."

"Wife?"

"That's what he said, Pa. Just like Hoss said it. We were kind of afraid to bring it up not knowing if you knew or not."

"Of course, I didn't know. So Jane is his wife or is there another woman he married without telling any of us?"

"Dadburnit, Pa, that's all he said. He looked pretty, well, you know, all busted up inside about it. We didn't want to push too hard. I ain't seen him that upset in a long time. I asked if maybe I should stay and set with him a while, and he asked me not to. Said this was one of them times he wanted to be alone to think on things a bit."

Not sure what to think, Ben found he didn't have much of an appetite either. Apparently neither did Hoss or Joe. Hop Sing fussed at them but did say he would put some food aside for Adam who apparently had not eaten all day. As they stood to retire to read or do something quiet for the evening, Joe had one comment.

"We're getting closer to knowing what happened to him in Boston."

Ben only shook his head and headed to his chair. After filling his pipe and lighting it, he sat down with a newspaper but Hoss and Joe noted that neither got any attention. About an hour later, they all heard a horse come in and knew it had to be Adam. Hoss jumped up wanting to be the one to go to Adam, but Ben stood and put a hand on his middle son's arm.

"I want to talk with him. Don't worry. I'm still his father and I care very much how he feels." With that, Ben walked out to the stable.

Adam knew that it was going to be his father or Hoss and had hoped it would be Hoss but the lighter step told him otherwise. "Hi, Pa. I know you have a lot of questions, and I know that I should have told you a lot of things, but I never expected Jane to show up here."

"You could have told us yesterday."

"I didn't know what she wanted."

"And now?"

"I know what she wants. I don't know if that's what I want. It's been a hard day."

"It may help to say it all out loud. I'll help you with Sport, and then you can have some dinner. Hop Sing held a plate for you."

Father and son worked silently, and then proceeded to the house. Adam took the plate from Hop Sing and ate without tasting anything. It was more a way to get more time than anything else. When he finished, he knew without looking that his family was looking at him and waiting. He turned to see those six eyes looking at him, sighed, and moved to the familiar blue chair where he told the short version of what had happened in Boston.

Chapter 4

"It wasn't all bad. In fact, I wrote to you and told you about the firm where I worked. It was doing some projects that made me proud. I had worked my way up in the firm in the year I had been there. The travel in Europe and the study in France helped immensely. I had ideas and knowledge to apply that no one else had. After only nine months, they sent me to New York to make a proposal to a client there. On the way back on the train, I was seated next to a dark-haired lady, very pretty and haughty. I dared to try to break through the icy exterior by greeting her. She was, shall we say, aristocratic in her response to me."

"Huh?" Hoss wasn't at all sure what that meant.

So Joe helped out. "She was bitchy."

"Joseph!"

"It's all right, Pa. She was, and she'll admit it too if you ask her. It was her way of fending off unwanted contact. I laughed though at what she said. She was intrigued and couldn't help herself. She asked my why I laughed. We started talking, and by the time we reached Boston, we had agreed to meet for lunch the following day. At first we were friends and went to the theatre and such together. As it became more serious, I wrote to you and mentioned her. I had every intention of telling you about her more, but then she was with child, we married quickly, but she lost the child. It all happened in the space of a few months. Within that same few months, I found that her father had maneuvered to put me in a position to take the blame for a huge corruption scheme. Apparently he had agreed to let me marry his daughter only because he thought he could use me. As soon as I realized what was going on, I went to the authorities. It was only that action that kept me out of prison. Even then there were those who wondered if somehow I had been involved and backed out to save my neck. My reputation was shot, but at least I had my freedom. I confronted him, and he denied it of course. He said I shouldn't have gone to the authorities because if I was in any kind of trouble, he had friends who could have taken care of it for me. I knew what he meant. He had denied involvement but that told me that he was involved as deeply as he could be. I told Jane I was leaving because there was nothing there for me any more, but she wouldn't believe me about her father. She said she wouldn't leave with me, and that if I left, she would divorce me or I could divorce her because the marriage was over. Where there is no trust, there is no love or so I thought, but I couldn't forget her."

"You didn't divorce her, and are we to assume she never divorced you?"

Adam nodded to his father's question. "I thought she would have by now. When she told me she had not, I was shocked. Then she said she wanted another chance. She said she wanted to be with me to convince me we could be together as husband and wife. But she admitted today that she came out here as part of her father's scheme to ruin me. He wants his revenge. She was to reconcile with me, and then he was going to stage a kidnapping, demand an exorbitant amount of money for her return, but she would be happily on her way back to Boston while I scrambled to come up with the money and deliver it. I told her he meant to take the money and to have me killed. She doesn't believe that. Once more, she doubts my evaluation of her father's actions."

Sitting forward in his red leather chair, Ben wanted to reach out to Adam but could only ask questions. "But instead of carrying out the scheme, she told you. Why?"

"She's not sure what she wants, and frankly neither am I. She's going to stay in Virginia City while we work that out. Meanwhile, she'll have to wire her father and tell him she's told me the story. He'll be furious. I don't know what he'll do."

"Dadburnit, Adam, you got yourself in quite a pickle."

"I know. I've been thinking about it all day. I don't know whether to trust her or not. Right now, I want to trust her, but I've been fooled before and she acts well and she loves her father very much. I don't know if I can be sure that she turned her back on her father to choose me."

"If she did, there's no greater love, son."

"And if she didn't, there is no greater way to betray me, to destroy me. I have to be careful. I wish I didn't. I'm having dinner with her in town tomorrow."

"Adam, under the circumstances, you shouldn't go anywhere alone. She shouldn't be alone either once her father finds out what she's done if it is what it appears to be. She may not be safe in town."

"Pa, what would you have me do? I can't have her here as my wife until I'm sure that's our future."

And Ben knew without asking that Adam was worried that his wife could seduce him into a decision that he would regret. Although he didn't want Adam to have to divorce his wife, he didn't want him to have to live in a marriage in which he had been manipulated and tricked either. He knew that Adam needed space between him and Jane. Ben had noticed the powerful attraction Jane had. When she walked through the room the night before, all of them had watched her. Luckily, Hoss understood as well. He made a suggestion that helped resolve the dilemma.

"Adam, you and me could move on over to Joe's cottage ifn he was of a mind to let us borrow it for a bit. Jane could stay here. She'd be safe here protected by Pa and Joe and the hands. You'd have me so you wouldn't be alone neither. Both of us get up early in the morning so we could ride on over here for breakfast. It could work out all right for a bit."

"It figures you would mostly be worried about not missing out on Hop Sing's cooking."

"Well, I mean to help you out. I didn't think I had to sacrifice myself or nothing like that." Hoss not only knew how to lighten his brother's burden. He knew how to reduce the tension in the room as well.

Looking to his father and Joe for their opinions, Adam got their approval for the temporary plan for housing. "I'll go in a bit early for dinner tomorrow then, and I'll ask her if she'll agree to that. I don't know what she'll say about living on a ranch. All I can do is make the proposal."

"Son, don't you think that her reaction to what you propose will tell you as much about her intentions and her feelings for you as anything she has told you so far?"

"You're probably right about that, Pa. If she has chosen me over her father, she has to know that she will be living here at least some of the time."

With that, the four men had little left to say. Adam was exhausted and headed up to bed although sleep came slowly and he slept fitfully and woke early. When he went downstairs in the morning, he was only at the table for a few minutes having coffee before his father joined him and then Hoss was there a short time later. Hoss told him that they ought to work together and then go to town together.

"Hoss, it's not likely that her father could have anything arranged so quickly. He's a long way away from here."

"Well, ya see, I was thinking about that, and I think maybe he ain't. He was gonna arrange a kidnapping when you two got yourselves back together again. Now ifn Jane was good at that, you two could be practically back together already. You might be except she decided to be honest about some stuff. Ifn she told the story her father wanted her to tell, you'd be well on your way to keeping house with her, and you know it too. I'm thinking he ain't too far off. So, like I said, I'll be working with you today, and I'll ride to town with you too. Cain't hurt to have a little extra bit of watching out."

In town, Jane could have used a little bit of that. She was awakened that morning by two men in her room as one put a hand over her mouth and told her not to scream. Once she agreed not to scream, he took his hand away slowly leery of her promise.

"We're working for your father, and I'm guessing he ain't gonna be happy at all to find you here instead of out on the Ponderosa. You're supposed to be bedding that Cartwright so we can go ahead with the next part of the plan."

"You have no right to speak so crudely to me."

"We got every right in the world, missy. We got all the power here, and you got none. What do you think would happen if them Cartwrights find out you're about to swindle them out of all their money? We ain't done nothing yet, but you already started playing the game." He saw the look then and got suspicious. "You did do what you was told to do, didn't you? If you didn't, I'd like as not strangle you right now."

"I went out there and did my best, but he's suspicious and wants to take it slowly. We're having dinner together this evening." Jane hoped her acting was good enough. Adam said she was good at it, and she guessed her safety depended on it at this moment. She had a question for them though. "After you get the money from Adam, what will happen to him?"

"What do you care what happens to him after what he done to you?"

"Well, he is my husband. I don't want to see anything terrible happen."

"Ah, all right, we'll make sure it ain't terrible. Right, Mason, we can promise her nothing 'terrible' will happen."

"Right, Davis, nothing 'terrible' will happen."

"Now, you do your best with him at dinner. We want to see you out there on the Ponderosa real soon. We got a plan for snatching you right from under their noses, but you need to be there so we can do it and leave the note. That's the only way it's gonna look like a real kidnapping. Now you play your part right and you'll come out of this just fine. This is gonna be a big payday for us, and we don't want nobody messing it up for us."

"Fine. Now will you please leave."

Once the two men were gone, Jane locked the door, and the windows that she had failed to lock the night before which clearly had been a mistake. She was shaking and didn't know what to do. It was obvious that the men had not heard from her father since she had sent off the telegrams when Adam had brought her to town, but that wouldn't last. She hurriedly dressed and packed her bags but didn't know where she could go to be safe. She was mad at the two men for invading her room, mad at her father for involving her in this scheme of his, and mad at Adam for not protecting her. That last part may not have been fair because she was the one who had gotten herself in trouble, but she was feeling scared and sorry for herself so she didn't care at that point. She stayed in her room afraid to leave and afraid to stay hoping that Adam might come early and knowing he probably wouldn't. The man was known for keeping his word and his appointments. When there was a knock on her door at about one, she hoped it might be Adam but whoever it was said nothing but slipped a paper under her door. She waited until she was sure whoever had done that must have retreated down the hall and cautiously approached the door to pick it up. It was an answer to the telegram she had sent.

Do nothing. Stop. Be there on the morrow. Stop. New plan. Stop. F.

Shocked, she realized that her father had to be closer than Boston. In fact, he had to be very close to be able to be there by the next day. Everything was happening so fast and she was not in control of anything. It was a horrible feeling for her. She sat again and wondered if she was doing the right thing. Her father had not yet rejected her outright so there was a chance they could be reconciled, but then she would lose Adam forever, and she could not bear that thought. In her mind, she began a tally of the pluses and minuses of either path. Finally she shut down that train of thought and realized that there was one thing that trumped all the others. Her life might be shorter with that choice, but she would be happier if it worked out. When there was a knock on her door at three, she was already dressed for dinner and still as scared as she had been earlier. She waited and thought perhaps that her father had sent those two men back to make sure she didn't do anything more as he had ordered in the telegram. She nearly cried when she heard Adam's voice call her name as he stood outside her door wondering if she was there. She rushed to the door, unlocked it, and nearly collapsed into his arms. Down the hall, two men were coming from the stairs and stopped suddenly. They couldn't do what they had been sent to do and could only watch as Adam gently wrapped his arms around Jane and stepped into her room with her.

"You're shaking. What's wrong? Surely that's not because I'm here."

Once last time perhaps, Jane hesitated. Adam felt her stiffen a bit in his arms and wondered why. Her next words though ended all speculation and began to stitch their relationship back together again. Jane had made the choice that would end all hope of reconciliation with her father and was gambling everything on reconciling with Adam. If that failed, she stood to lose the only two people she had ever loved. She wasn't at all sure of herself in these uncharted waters of honesty and integrity, but she forged ahead hoping that Adam would guide her if she got off course.

"I got a visit from two men working for my father. Then I got a telegram from my father. I have it in my pocket if you would like to read it. Adam, he's close, and those men were in my room this morning and woke me up. I'm scared. Where will I go to be safe? When my father finds out not only that I disobeyed him, but that I have betrayed him, I don't know what he will do. I'm beginning to think you may be right about him at least in some ways." Suddenly it dawned on Jane that Adam was there at three instead of at the dinner hour that she had expected. "You're very early. Is there something else that's happened?"

"Not exactly. I had a talk with my family about everything. I told them what I should have told them when I got home. I never expected you to show up, and I guess I was ashamed of some things and thought I could bury the whole sorry mess, and they would never know."

"Your damn pride is as bad as mine."

"Different, yes, but as bad, probably. Well, as we talked, we realized you could be in danger too, but we never expected it to be so soon. I came here early to invite you back to the Ponderosa to stay." At Jane's hopeful expression, Adam had to be brutally honest. "No, not as my wife yet. I still need time, or we still need time to work that out."

"I don't need any more time. I've made my decision."

"I know you have, and that will make it easier for me to come to terms with some things. But I want some time to think things through. You know how I am. Anyway, you'll stay at the house where you can be safe. Hoss and I will stay at another place near by. I'll be there for meals, and I'll be there to talk with you. We'll work things out."

"You're afraid of me."

Scowling at her understanding so easily what worried him, Adam could only wait to see what else she would say. In an uncharacteristic move for her, Jane said nothing more, but she did have a wicked little smile as she offered her arm.

"Shall we go to dinner and have them bring these bags downstairs so I can check out and go with you, Mister Cartwright?"

Rolling his eyes, Adam sighed. He escorted her downstairs and told the clerk her plans had changed and she would be returning as a guest of the Ponderosa. He asked if her bags could please be brought down to his carriage outside. He left money to pay for everything and then led her to the dining room for an early dinner and some time to talk privately. He could only guess what the gossips in town were going to do with this bit of information. Later as they drove out of town, two men mounted up to follow them only to turn off when they saw Hoss Cartwright mount up and ride with them. They weren't willing to take on two of the Cartwrights in a fair fight.

Chapter 5

Frederick Angus Sims arrived in Virginia City and headed to the International Hotel expecting to find his daughter there. The men he had hired informed him before he was able to ask the hotel clerk however that his daughter was once again out on the Ponderosa and had been since she and Adam had left the previous day. Neither of them knew Sims that well of they would have seen the slight tells that indicated how furious he was. He told them to accompany him to his room so that they could talk. Everything that followed only made him more upset and then resigned to having failed in his main quest.

"You were supposed to stop her. I know how headstrong she can be, but she is only a woman. How could you fail to keep her here?"

"Cartwright brought his brother with him. We figured you didn't want us to make a public mess out of trying to hold her. We got a way of getting her any time we want though. We got a man on the Ponderosa who's working with us. We can snatch her back right from under their noses any time you tell us."

"That will not do. My daughter is not the type to be 'snatched' and then agreeable afterwards. No, now I shall have to go out to this backwoods hovel and somehow convince her to leave this ruffian who has so mesmerized her that she has lost all sense of her upbringing and station. I will pay you gentlemen a fee but your services are no longer required."

"Listen here, we was gonna be making a lot of money on this deal. No 'fee' is gonna make up for that."

"There is no possibility that the plan will work any longer so there is no possibility that you will get that money from the Cartwrights. Now, here is more money than you deserve. Be off with you." Frederick had two men with him, and the two who had been hired to kidnap Jane were unwilling again to challenge other men when the odds were even. They took the money that was offered and left. Once the door closed, one of the other men asked if Frederick was giving up on ruining Cartwright.

"I don't know, but quite possibly I may have to give that up. If my daughter has truly decided of her own free will to stay with him then I would be ruining her as well. Even though she has made me furious with what she has done, she is my only child. I cannot leave her destitute. I will disinherit her for her betrayal, but I cannot exact a revenge on her as I would on him. Cartwright can support her in decent style from what I know. He seemed to have enough to get by without being deprived even if he had to work to do it. If they have children, they will become my heirs. Perhaps one of them will have more sense than she does or he does, damn him." Huffing for a bit, Frederick shook his head. "That damn girl is a bit like me in all the wrong ways. She's stubborn and proud and headstrong. Now if she had any sense of decorum and of acting properly according to her station with a decent amount of ambition, we would never have all this trouble with her. I thought she was making progress in that regard until she met that Cartwright on the train. Damnable invention, that, throwing together all the common elements with their betters."

One of the men asked if Sims wanted a carriage hired for the trip to the Ponderosa, but it was already afternoon. He decided that he would go the next day. However the next day storms were battering the area with rain, and the following day, strong winds as well as the mud from the rain made travel difficult. So it wasn't until three days had passed before a frustrated Sims was able to hire a carriage and have one of his men drive him to the Ponderosa.

By then, Adam and Jane had spent a considerable amount of time together starting with that first evening back on the ranch. Knowing more of her story, Ben had welcomed her warmly and told her he hoped that she and Adam could work out their differences. His warm smile and the tone of his statement left Jane knowing that he was sincere. It brought tears to her eyes to know that he should be angry with her for her bad behavior, but instead he had forgiven her already and was willing to look to the future. She hoped that Adam had that same quality as his father. After dinner that evening, she found out that he probably did. Walking outside to the porch to get some privacy, they talked of her father and what he might do. Jane said that she was scared and asked Adam if it would be all right if she asked him to hold her. He didn't wait to be asked but wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close letting her rest her head against his chest as they stood on the porch. No matter what happened, Adam knew that he loved her and that he didn't want any harm to come to her. He did worry yet as to whether they could make a success of a marriage especially because her father so heartily disapproved of him. He suspected that Jane was going to be disinherited and knew that was going to hurt her immensely. Even though she knew she had irreparably damaged her relationship with her father, if he did anything to formally sever the ties between them, Adam was sure what the effect might be and if she would ultimately blame him. It could become that black cloud in their marriage that would never go away with resentment that could tinge everything with its poison. It was the biggest question he had about their future and didn't even know how to bring that up with her. What he needed was to discuss that with someone though and got an opportunity that night with Hoss.

"Looked like the two of you ain't gonna need all that much time to work out your differences. Seems to me you're still in love with one another. As soon as you both got over being mad, it was pretty clear how you both feel about each other."

"But that's part of the problem, Hoss. We fight, and we fight a lot. We found so many things to argue about it seemed we were seldom able to have peace between us."

"D'ya think it might be different here without her father interfering and trying always to turn her against ya?"

That gave Adam pause for he had not considered what was to Hoss the most obvious point. "And he was the only family she had left. She said she had brothers but none of them survived to adulthood. One by one they died. Her mother died either of a broken heart or illness. She isn't sure because she was so young when she died. She was raised by a nanny and a housekeeper and then sent away to school at sixteen. I'm not sure she knows how to live in a family."

"She's shur gonna learn how to do that here." Seeing Adam's look become even more worried, Hoss had to smile. "Don't you worry none about Joe. He ain't gonna be chasing after your wife no matter how she makes a man turn and look when she walks by. She is something, ain't she?"

"Hoss, she makes my blood boil when I'm around her."

"I kin understand why you need some distance to be able to think about things. Ifn I had a wife like that, I know I'd only be thinking one thing when I was near her."

"Please, don't get me thinking like that. I have to think about what to do when her father gets here."

"You that sure he's coming?"

"He'll be here. He wants to win every time, and to him, this is a contest. Somehow I have to find a way to show him that we can both win her. It's the only way for me to hold her to me forever."

"Seems like that might be a mountain of a problem."

"If I could get some insight as to what he thought was most important, then there's a chance that I could come up with a plan, but I doubt that the two of us are going to be able to have much of a civil conversation."

"Jane is a lot younger than you, ain't she?"

"She is."

"So he must be not much older than you?"

"About the same: he's twelve years older than I am, and she's twelve years younger than me. What point are you getting at?"

"Well, what do men start thinking on as they get older? What starts getting more important to them? You said she's his only surviving family now."

"Hmm, grandchildren? Hoss, I hate to think of using children as pawns, and who's to say we'll even have any? Jane lost the first one and fairly early. That could happen again. The doctor more or less hinted that could be the case."

"You don't know. But ifn you had children, he'd want to pass on his legacy, and he cain't do it ifn he's not got a tie to them. If he breaks off his relationship with her then he loses his chance to have a relationship with any grandchildren. What kind of legacy does he have then?"

"But he's not an honest man. I'm not sure I want that kind of thing for my children at all."

"Listen, if you raise up your children right, they'll know what to do about that, and you and Jane will be around to help them make decisions too, and so will the rest of us."

Smiling then, Adam leaned back in his chair and stared at Hoss. "This is rather funny. Here I am talking about children when I haven't even made a final decision on my marriage."

"Oh, I think you have. You just ain't told yourself yet. You set there a spell and think on it, and I reckon the answer is gonna come to ya." Standing and turning toward the small bedroom in the cottage, he grinned over his shoulder at his older brother. "Tonight is my turn in the bed. You get the bedroll not that you're gonna be able to sleep much anyway, I figure with what's going through your head."

Hoss' words were prophetic and Adam didn't fall into sleep until the early hours of the morning when he was so exhausted he finally was able to shut off his thinking. He was awakened by rolling thunder only a few hours later. Storms had rolled down the slopes of the mountains and pounded through the area. Adam wanted to leave anyway to head back to the main house but Hoss told him that it was too dangerous to try.

"We don't have any food here. Remember? We planned on taking all of our meals at the house."

"Dagnabit! It's still too dangerous to go now, but at the first break in the storm, I'll be racing you to that little stable to get the horses ready to go."

"We can pack all of our gear up while we wait."

Grinning, Hoss slapped Adam on the shoulder. "See, I knew the answer would come to ya if ya let it."

Hours later at the main house, Jane stared out the window by Ben's desk watching the trees bend in the wind and the rain pour down. Ben walked up behind her.

"I'm sure they're waiting out the storm. They'll be back here when it's safe enough to ride. So many things can go wrong riding in a storm like this that they're smart enough to sit tight until it passes."

Jane had to smile though at Joe's comment to that. "I don't know, Pa. They've each got a great reason to take a few chances on the weather. Hoss wants to get back here to Hop Sing and Adam has an even better reason to hurry on home."

Less than a half hour later, the front door opened with a gust of wind and two soaked men and a few well chosen words about the weather before the door was slammed shut again. Ben turned to tell his sons to watch their language but halted when he saw how Adam looked to Jane and smiled broadly. He said only one word to her but it caused her to rush into his arms.

"Yes."

Hoss apologized for their condition and for making a wet mess on the floor. "I'll clean it up, don't you worry. We had to get back here though, and the darn storm didn't look like it was gonna give us a break today." Hop Sing came out then, and before he could complain about the wet mess on his floor, Hoss repeated his offer. Seeing Adam embracing Jane openly though was the main cause for Hop Sing to soften his complaints and agree that Hoss could clean it up.

At that point, Ben took charge though ordering Joe to get two blankets. "You two need to get out of those wet clothes first. Adam, you go first. Jane can hold a blanket for you. Once you're gone, Hoss can go." Hoss was smirking so much then that Ben thought he was going to start laughing, but he managed to keep it under control. At first Adam was going to head upstairs wrapped in his blanket, but Jane quickly steered him toward the downstairs guest bedroom. Then Hoss did begin to laugh but not too loudly or too long for he didn't want to do anything that might harm the reunion of Adam and Jane now that they were reconciling. Joe and Ben looked at Hoss who nodded.

"Yep, it's what you think. He needed some time to be sure of himself, but he wants to make it work. He loves her and they're gonna have to find a way to work something out with her father even if he is a jackass."

"All right, you go upstairs and get into some dry clothes. I'll get these wet things to the washroom. Would you bring dry clothing down for Adam, please? Joe, could you get started on cleaning up the wet floor here?" About to object that Hoss had volunteered, Joe thought better of that when he saw his father's eyebrows lower and start to come together. He knew what that meant.

In the guest bedroom, Adam held Jane close. "I know it won't be easy, but we have to find a way to make your father accept this marriage. The only way we can hope to have a long future together is for him to do that. We need to talk about that, but first I need some hot coffee and some food. Can we wait at least that long?"

All smiles even at the mention of the difficulty with her father, Jane agreed knowing they were going to have to do a lot of talking but relieved that Adam had accepted her again as his wife. She was confident they would be able to work out anything else especially with the help of his family. Even this short time with Adam's father and youngest brother had taught her quite a bit about being in a family, and she liked the feeling it gave her.

"I know there will be problems especially with my father. I know I have a difficult adjustment to make to life out here, but I know you will help me and your family will help me. Over the last two days, I have found that I am happier than I can remember being even with all the trouble we're facing."

For the next two days and nights, they spent a lot of time talking, planning, and getting to know more about each other. Without the pressures they had faced in Boston, they learned more about each other faster and with greater understanding. In only a few days, Jane began to fit into the family as if she had been a part of the family much longer. Ben found himself smiling much more, and those dreams of grandchildren seemed more real again.

Chapter 6

Peace and tranquility were shattered the next day about noon however with the arrival of Frederick Angus Sims on the Ponderosa. He stepped from his carriage and was greeted by Ben who had heard the carriage arrive.

"My daughter, Jane Alexandra Sims is here, and I demand to see her."

"First of all, I'm Ben Cartwright, and you are?"

"My name is Frederick Angus Sims. If I had known you were the owner of this ranch, I would have introduced myself. I didn't expect the owner to be dressed as a servant, so please excuse my faux pas. Now, I wish to see my daughter."

"Missus Jane Cartwright and her husband, my son Adam were unable to leave the house because of the weather for the past two days. Jane wanted to see more of her new home, so today they went on a ride on the Ponderosa. My other two sons went with them as protection."

"Well, when will they return?"

"They should be back within a few more hours."

"Hours. How long does it take to see a ranch?"

"Oh, they won't see the whole ranch. They'll see perhaps a sixth of it or so. It would take a good week to see it all. There's about one hundred thousand acres and some of the terrain would make travel slower. I'm sure Adam is showing her some of the more beautiful spots. We have four separate cattle operations that are only consolidated for drives to market, and then there is the separate horse breeding operation. The timber operation and lumber mill is too remote for a day trip, and I don't think Adam would take Jane to any of our mining operations. Adam is an investor in the Virginia and Truckee Railroad as I am though so perhaps he would have taken her to see the newest engines they have purchased. The return on investment there has been quite lucrative for us." Ben's boasting had the desired effect in leaving Frederick at least temporarily speechless. Ben and Adam had talked, and Adam had said that Frederick had only ever expressed disdain for Adam's home and had not ever asked even the most basic questions about the Ponderosa or how Adam had afforded his education or his travels. In talking with Jane, they guessed that Frederick thought they lived on a modest ranch and earned their money from a simple cattle operation. She said that once he had laughed and said it was funny that they had given their 'little ranch' a name as if it was a 'real business' like those he ran or in which he invested. As Frederick stood there, Ben invited him to come inside and invited the two men with him to sit on the porch. He said Hop Sing would bring refreshments for them as well. He told them if they were cold at any point, they could go in the bunkhouse. Then he led Frederick into the house giving the man another surprise. The house was not grand by eastern standards or even by Virginia City standards, but it was certainly an impressive house to find so far from town and as the main house of a ranch. However all the outbuildings would have told any westerner that this was no ordinary ranch.

Loath to admit any error or weakness, Frederick did have to say some kind words about the house and the furnishings he found inside because those too were a surprise to him. Gold framed portraits, old paintings, and bronze sculptures were not at all what he had expected. A chess board, fine brandy, and a gun collection as well as coffee served on fine china by a servant amazed him even more. He began asking questions about the business side of the Ponderosa and about Ben's background surprised to learn that he was originally from Boston. Time passed quickly for the two men and when the sounds of horses were heard in the yard, Frederick was startled to learn that hours had gone by already.

"That should be Adam and Jane and my other two sons." Ben stood to lead Frederick outside but the younger man preceded him quickly quite anxious to see his daughter.

In the yard, Adam helped Jane from the carriage. "You're shaking again."

"That carriage has to mean that my father is here."

"I'm here too. My family is here. We'll take care of you. You believe that, don't you?" Jane leaned into Adam and rested her head against his chest taking comfort there. He wrapped his arms around her and spoke softly and soothingly to her.

That was what Frederick saw when he exited the house to see his daughter. He knew then that he had lost. Everything that he had learned from Ben Cartwright, everything that he had seen, and now this scene were all the evidence that he needed. His daughter was going to stay here in what to him was the wilderness of Nevada no matter what he did or said. The only thing left for him to do was to try to get the best deal out of it that he could. He was a hard man but not a stupid one. Someday, he might find a way to get her to come back to Boston and perhaps bring some grandchildren with her, but this was not the time to try to do it.

"Jane, I wish you had told me that you were leaving. I wish I could have said goodbye in a proper manner instead of having to come all this way."

Shocked speechless, Jane turned from Adam to greet her father but words failed her. Adam kept an arm around her arm to steady her knowing how emotional she was likely to be at this moment and how worried she had been about this meeting.

"Good afternoon, Frederick."

"Adam, I'm glad to see you are taking good care of my daughter."

"Always."

"I expect so."

"May I speak privately with my daughter."

"I don't think she wants to do that, but if you would like to speak privately with the two of us, that can be arranged."

"Jane?"

"I want Adam with me, Father."

"Very well."

Stepping forward, Ben told Adam to take them inside and that he and the others would stay outside until they were done talking. Adam nodded to Frederick who moved back inside. Adam and Jane sat on the settee and Frederick sat in the red leather chair. He would have preferred standing, but when Adam suggested they all sit, it would have been churlish to refuse.

"By the telegram I received, I assume that Jane has told you our plans." Adam nodded. "Those plans are obviously no longer in play. I paid off the two men I had hired and told them it won't happen. I'm going to San Francisco to conclude a business deal there, and then I will be going directly back to Boston. I cannot say I approve of this marriage, but I have no choice but to tolerate it." That was a concession that Adam and Jane had not expected. "Jane, do not expect any visits from me or any special consideration while you are married to Adam, but I will do nothing more to interfere. If the marriage fails, you know where your home is." He said it however in a tone that indicated that it was more when the marriage failed than if it failed.

"Father, my home is here now."

"You may say that now, but you will miss all those things you had before and you may find this life boring and stifling. You will miss all the pleasures and ease of living you had. If you change your mind, I will welcome you home again."

"Sir, you insult me, and that I expected, but you insult your daughter, and that needs to stop now. You've said enough. If you wish to have any more contact with her, or with any children we may have, you need to be civil in all conversations with her."

"I was civil."

"Only in your choice of words to use. In the future, it needs to include any ideas expressed as well or there will be no communication." Adam's tone and demeanor made clear that it was no idle threat. The battle line had been drawn, and Frederick knew that in this case, his forces were in an inferior position. He withdrew.

"Very well. We shall leave things as they are. You have my address. I will expect to hear from you if there is any news you wish to share."

"I will, Father. I promise that."

"Then I will be on my way. I plan to leave Virginia City tomorrow. I guess that I shall not see you again. If you ever travel to a city with a photographer, please have a portrait made and sent to me please, at my expense."

Bristling a bit at that, Adam responded before Jane could. "We will do that, and we will pay for it. It will be our gift to you."

"As you wish. Goodbye, Jane. Fare thee well."

With that, Frederick walked from the house, got into his carriage, and accompanied by his two men, left the Ponderosa never expecting to see his daughter again. It left him with an odd empty feeling that he had not expected to feel. Behind him on the ranch, Adam held Jane as she cried. Things had gone better than expected, but she had still lost her father in many ways. It was a huge step she had taken, and she was frightened of the future. Adam could only hold her and assure her that he would be there for her forever and always. The promise he had made on the day they married. She smiled remembering those were the words he had used, but then she reminded him of what had happened. He reminded her that she was the one who refused to stay with him. Then the two of them decided that they wouldn't talk about that any more. It was in the past, forgiven, and no longer important. Ben, Hoss, and Joe came back into the house to ask how things had gone. Adam gave them a quick summary.

"Well, that was a heap better than you thought he would be, wasn't it?" Hoss was happy that there had been no angry words. "Now, let's sit down for dinner and get started on being a family, the five of us."

Realizing what Hoss was doing, Joe decided to help distract Jane from the sadness of her father's departure too. "Hey, where are you two going to live? Are you going to stay here in the house with us or build a house for the two of you?"

Looking at Jane, Adam shrugged. "We hadn't gotten around to talking about that yet. We've got a lot of things like that to discuss. What do you think?"

"We've got a lot of time to talk about that. Where would we build a house if we built one?"

"That would be another discussion."

"Adam, I don't know how to cook. Would we be able to hire someone like Hop Sing? Could we afford that?"

"We could probably afford it, but there is no one like Hop Sing. He's the best there is, but perhaps we could find somebody competent." Adam winked at Jane as he said that.

Catching on quickly, she added a bit more. "Oh, I know he's the best. I never had food this good when I lived in Boston."

Ben rolled his eyes, but soon Hop Sing was serving dinner and had a big grin. It never hurt to throw out some compliments when he could hear them. After dinner, Adam and Jane sat on the settee quietly relaxing. It had been a long day. Jane's eyes began to droop so Adam suggested that they ought to retire early. It had been a tiring day for all of them, and before ten, all the lights in the house were out and everyone was in bed.

Outside, one man watched and waited in the grove of trees. It had been easy to approach the house and settle in for the night. His horse was well hidden too. He planned to stay where he was and wait for an opportunity. The money this job was worth would mean he would never have to work again, and that was a powerful incentive to put up with a little discomfort and quite a lot of boredom until he got his chance. That hundred dollars that Sims had paid him and his partner wasn't nearly enough to satisfy him. He figured he could pull this off and walk away with thousands. There would be no one with whom he had to share it either. The whole plan was already set up. He only had to follow it although he had made a few alterations because it was being done by him alone and not by three men as originally set up, and of course Jane wasn't going to be cooperating either. However the money had bought him the things he needed to take care of that.

Chapter 7

In the morning, Adam woke Jane early by kissing her shoulder, her neck, and her cheek until she responded. They kissed and touched for about five minutes before Jane pushed back and looked at Adam.

"You shaved."

"Yes, you were sleeping soundly so it didn't seem to bother you, and I thought you would appreciate it."

"I do, and that was very sweet of you. You are a very considerate man."

"Yes, except for waking you up."

"Oh, I don't mind. You can wake me up for this anytime especially if you've shaved first. That may have to be a rule. You can wake me up anytime but you have to shave first. How about that?"

"Oh, that seems fair. Now, enough talking. I think we were having more fun than that."

An hour later, dressed and relaxed, they went out to have breakfast and found Ben already there. He asked what their plans were for the day. Adam said he needed to head up to the lumber mill to see about some orders, and with the threat from Frederick gone, he felt comfortable doing that. Jane said she saw a garden in the back, and if Ben didn't mind, she thought she might start tending the flowers there.

"I may not be able to cook, but we had a greenhouse, and I loved to work with the flowers and rosebushes."

"My dear, that would be wonderful. We all try to do something with the flowers around here, but none of us has the time or the talent to do a good job with them. It is late in the season, but if you could coax a few blooms from them yet, I would appreciate that very much."

"We'll have to get you some clothing more appropriate to the Sierras and to gardening too. Hop Sing probably had an apron that you can wear over your dress for now. He probably has some gloves that will fit you too."

Outfitted with an apron, gloves, and one of Joe's old hats, Jane was ready to head to the garden when Adam left for the lumber mill. He kissed her and promised to be back for dinner. She took the basket and the small tools Hop Sing had provided and headed to the back of the house to begin cleaning up the garden. She had some ideas on how to make it look pretty but first had to clean up dead branches and debris around the rosebushes. Ben worked in the house at his desk and Hop Sing in the kitchen. When Hoss and Joe returned for lunch, Ben asked if one of them would go tell Jane that it was lunchtime.

"She's quite a worker. She's been out there all morning."

A short time later, Joe rushed back into the house. "She's gone. Somebody took her."

"What do you mean somebody took her. Took her how?" Ben stood and rushed from his desk to Joe who shoved a piece of paper into his hands.

Adam Cartwright, tomorrow morning by eight you bring twenty thousand dollars to get your wife back. You ride alone to Carson Crossroads and with nobody anywhere around or following you and there'll be a note there telling you where you're supposed to deliver the money. Anybody comes with you or follows you and I'll ride off and you'll never see her or me again.

"Pa, what we gonna do?"

"Hoss, you go out back and start following the tracks. See if you can follow them. I'll get some men to go after you. Joe, you head to town to get the money. We may need it. Do whatever you have to but get that money. Take a few men with you in case this is a trick to get you on the road with the money."

"Pa, what about Adam?"

"If we send someone for him, it won't make any difference. He'll get there about the time Adam will be heading back home anyway. It will only make him ride too fast and take too many chances. We can't do any more than what we're going to do anyway. Joe, make sure Roy knows but tell him not to come out here. It's possible we're being watched and anyone like that coming here could jeopardize Jane."

"Pa, you think her father done it?"

"I don't know, Hoss, but I don't think so. After yesterday, he would know to ask for a lot more money than that. Whoever this is doesn't have a good idea of what we're worth."

"Should we have somebody go stake out Carson Crossroads now?" Hoss wanted to have somebody there to see who planted the note for Adam to find.

"Who do we have that might be able to do it without being seen?"

"Pa, Billy is probably the best one. Being part Paiute and raised by them and all, he can move through the brush like a cat."

"I'll ask him if he'll do that then. Now let's get busy. We've all got a lot to do."

When Adam returned, he was upset on many scores. Not only was Jane kidnapped, but he hadn't been told earlier about her being kidnapped. His father explained his reasoning. However that did little good for the distraught husband who could do nothing except wait for the next morning and the ride to the Carson Crossroads. Hoss had found the kidnappers spot in the trees behind the house but had been unable to track the kidnapper any further than the road because he had switched to a wagon there and the tracks blended in with all the other traffic on the road eventually. The hours the kidnapper had as a head start had been too much. Whoever the kidnapper was, he had obviously been waiting for such a chance and taken it.

No one got much sleep that night and everyone was up early. They were going to be waiting well out of range of being seen but hopefully close enough to hear gunshots so that they could be summoned to help. Adam had already left when several of the men pushed one of their new hires to where Ben was getting ready to mount up and leave.

"Mister Cartwright, this one's got something to tell ya. He's been acting mighty nervous all morning, and we decided to persuade him to talk to us about why." Noting that the man was bruised and battered, Ben looked at the hands and wondered why they had done that. The saw the look. "As soon as we started talking about the kidnapping, he started acting real peculiar. We saw it last night and then again this morning. We decided to find out why. Now, boy, you tell him."

"I was hired to be in on the kidnapping, but then it all fell through and wasn't supposed to happen. I got paid one hundred dollars to do nothing."

Forcing himself not to lose his temper, Ben did grab the man by the shirtfront and demanded to know the whole plan including where they were supposed to be holding Jane during the supposed kidnapping.

"Except we wasn't really gonna be keeping her. She was supposed to be leaving. We were only gonna be waiting there to, ah, get the money."

"You mean to bushwhack my son and take the money. Get off my ranch. If I ever see you in my lifetime, I'll shoot you on sight like any other vermin on my ranch. Go, before I change my mind."

"Pa, you sure you want to let him go?"

"Hoss, he didn't break the law. He only planned to do it. Now, let's get going. We've got a long ride to get around to where he's holding Jane. I know that spot and it's a perfect spot for an ambush. If Adam rides in there, he won't survive."

"What's our plan?"

"We'll have to come in from all sides, and try to surprise him without allowing him to use Jane as a shield. It may be difficult to do. Joe, you're the best one to try to intercept Adam on the way without being seen. Watch for Billy. Between the two of you, get to Adam and let him know what we're doing." With that, Ben mounted up and the whole group followed him out of the yard, but Joe soon raced ahead as did some of the others with Ben's blessing. If they could get there sooner, the plan had a better chance of succeeding.

The plan did succeed, but there was a fatal flaw in it. Adam rode in slowly to the designated spot to deliver the money so that the waiting men could spot the movement of the kidnapper when he prepared to bushwhack Adam. They knew that Adam's very slow approach would likely make him nervous and make him move. They were watching for it, and it worked well. Hoss yelled out for the man to drop his weapon when he spotted him and that made everyone else zero in on where the man was and made Adam move to cover. With no target and encircled by armed men, the kidnapper knew it was hopeless. He knew too what the penalty was for kidnapping. He didn't want to live that way. He turned to fire on Hoss, but before he got off a single shot, numerous bullets hit him even as Adam yelled at them not to kill him. It was too late. He was dead soon after hitting the ground with a noticeable thud as the echoes of the gunfire died away and the small puffs of smoke dissipated in the light breeze. Adam rode forward desperately looking for any place where Jane might be hidden. Ben and the others joined him in the search.

"Pa, there's no wagon here. She was never here. This was only where he was going to kill me and take the money. Where could she be?"

As Adam spoke, his voice took on a plaintive sound for he had never felt more hopeless than he did at that moment. He couldn't bear the thought that he had gotten her back only to lose her. Hoss and Billy began a thorough search of the perimeter of the area and came back to confirm that there had not been a wagon driven there any time recently. There were only the tracks of horses that day. Joe had one piece of information they could use.

"One of the men knows him by name. We can go to town to find out where he got that wagon rig and when he brought it back."

"Yeah, Adam, ifn we know that, then we know how far he coulda gotten from our place. We'll get everybody we can out searching."

Even if his brothers were trying to be optimistic, Adam knew how unlikely it was that such a search would find her in time. She would be cold, hungry, thirsty, and scared, and had already been alone for a day. She had only a day or two more perhaps in this weather. He couldn't give up though. He agreed, and all of them mounted up to ride to Virginia City to organize a massive search effort. What they found out in Virginia City was puzzling at best. The man had not rented a wagon of any kind from anyone. So they began questioning people all over town and found that he had hitched a ride with some people on a wagon claiming that his horse had a stone bruise and shouldn't be ridden. Yet he had apparently left town on that horse later the same day. When Joe came back with information that he had apparently purchased some laudanum, Adam rushed to his horse and told the others he thought he knew where Jane must be and he needed Hoss to show him the trail the kidnapper had used as he left the Ponderosa.

"What are you talking about, Adam?"

"He drugged her, Hoss. He had one horse. He couldn't be seen on the Ponderosa with a woman slung over his saddle. Soon after he took her, he had to stash her some place, but she had to remain stashed so he drugged her and tied her up. By now, she must be frantic. We have to hurry."

Soon the whole group was following Hoss and searching on either side of the trail as he backtracked from the road toward the house. The trail moved in a meandering line from one grove of trees to another as the man had apparently used cover as much as possible. Each time they reached heavy cover, they hoped to find her, but each time as some men broke away to search, Adam kept going with Hoss. He had a feeling that she wasn't there yet. As they got to within about a mile of the house, there was an especially dense area of trees and brush that opened up to a straight shot to the house and the grove of trees where the kidnapper had lain in wait.

"This has to be it, Hoss. She has to be here. He would have been scared to death he was going to be caught so by the time he got here, he would have wanted to get rid of her so he could ride on faster."

"You know, I think you're right. I think he did go a mite faster after this part."

On foot, Adam and Hoss began searching along the tracks looking first into any opening into the trees. Adam thought at one point he heard something and asked Hoss to stop moving. They both heard it then but had a difficult time determining direction. Adam called out Jane's name and asked her to yell louder once and then stop and then yell again. It wasn't much, but they heard the sound and then heard it again a moment later. She was here in these trees. Adam fired his pistol three times even as he began to work his way through the brush to where he thought he heard the sounds. Then he saw a blanket wrapped bundle and knew he had her. He pulled his pocketknife and slit the ropes binding the blankets around her and rolled her free. She had a nasty bruise on the side of her face and had soiled her dress, but other than having nothing to drink or eat in a day, she was all right. Kneeling, Adam gathered a sobbing Jane in his arms. She was hoarse and could barely choke out any words but managed a few.

"Oh, Adam, I thought I was going to die."

"Sh, don't talk. I've got you now. Let's get you home."

"Water?"

Hoss pushed a canteen into Adam's hands so he could help Jane drink. He stopped her from gulping the water down but had her take long sips and pause in between. He lifted her in his arms then and moved toward Sport. Hoss stepped up beside him offering to hold Jane while he mounted up and then hand her up to him.

"But Hoss, I'm filthy."

"Naw, you're my sister. You're the only one I got so I got to take good care of you now."

By then, the rest of the men had arrived as well as Ben and others who had followed behind. The gunshots had alerted them and all were relieved to find that it meant good news. Ben told them he and Joe would ride ahead and tell Hop Sing to get a bath and some food ready.

"We may even help him so that things move along a bit faster. We have to make sure Jane gets the treatment the lady of the house deserves." Ben thanked the hands for their help and they rode off to their work as Adam and Hoss made their way slowly back to the house. Later as Jane sat in the tub soaking and Adam helped her to eat, she explained what had happened.

"He came up to me as bold as could be. I thought he worked here. Then he hit me and knocked me to the ground and told me to drink that vile stuff. I wouldn't so he pinned my arms and held my nose shut until I opened my mouth. He poured it in and it was awful. I don't remember a lot after that until I woke up and I couldn't move or hardly breathe. Adam, I could hear animals and I thought I was going to die."

"We're going to have to have a party and introduce you to every single person who works on the ranch. That's a good idea anyway. There aren't that many things to do in the fall so it will be fun. Then I think I'm going to get you a pistol and teach you how to shoot."

"I was cold too."

"Yes, we'll buy you some new clothes too." She raised her eyebrows. "Including a new jacket, hat, and gloves." She kept looking that way. "What else?"

"Well, I'll need more than one of each of those. Some for Sunday wear, and some for everyday wear, and some for going to parties."

Shaking his head, Adam had to grin. "You didn't stage this whole thing to get me to go shopping for a whole new wardrobe for you, did you?"

"Now, Adam, would I do something like that?" She batted her eyes at him then like a saucy wench might.

At that moment, Adam knew he had made the right decision for both of them. She was going to fit in very well in the west. She had the spirit and the toughness that was needed, and the west would allow her the freedom to be express herself that the staid rules of Boston did not. He reached over and cupped her face careful not to hurt her for that bruise looked painful. Leaning in, he kissed her soundly.

"Now, Jane, the next thing on the agenda is seeing about some grandchildren for my father. He wants to see children running around this house again. I'd like that too."

"As soon as you can find me a towel, we can work on that, or you can join me in here."

"That's a wonderful idea, but I think we'll do that next time. Right now, my family would like to see that you're all right, and Hop Sing has said he has made a special dessert for all of us. Then of course, I think you ought to go to bed to rest."

"I'll rest better if you're there with me."

"My thoughts exactly. Forever and always."


End file.
